Dalmilling pupils get a lesson with fibre broadband

Senior pupils at Dalmilling primary school help welcome more fibre broadband to Ayr, with Openreach engineer David McCann.

More than 2000 homes and businesses in Ayr are now able to connect to high-speed fibre broadband thanks to the £428M Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme.

The Digital Scotland team celebrated fibre availability in the South Ayrshire town this week as they visited a fibre street cabinet that will serve part of the town. They were joined by senior pupils from Dalmilling Primary School, who were excited to discover what goes on inside the green street cabinets.

The latest premises are among more than 750,000 homes and businesses across Scotland which are now able to access fibre broadband through Digital Scotland rollout.

To access the latest fibre broadband technology, local people need to sign up with an internet service provider, as upgrades are not automatic.

Other areas in South Ayrshire to benefit from the Digital Scotland rollout, led by the Scottish Government, include Coylton, Dunure, Kirkoswald, Prestwick, Maybole, Maidens and Tarbolton. More local coverage will follow as engineers from Openreach - the local network business which is part of BT Group - continue work on the ground.

Jodie Thomson, Deputy Head Teacher at Dalmilling Primary School, said: “It was fantastic to have the Digital Scotland team visit the school and involve some of the pupils in helping launch the latest fibre broadband in the town. It was great opportunity for pupils to see the amount of hard engineering work that’s involved in connecting up communities to fibre broadband. As well as this, it also showed them how beneficial it would be when it comes to their school work and various other aspects of their home life.”

Fibre broadband offers fast and reliable broadband connections at speeds of up to 80Mbps* and there are many suppliers in the marketplace to choose from. Whether you own a business, work from home or want to keep in touch with friends and family, fibre broadband enables multiple users to connect to the internet at high speeds and get better, faster access to online services.

Sara Budge, Programme Director for Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband, said: “It’s fantastic news that the programme has been able to launch more fibre broadband to benefit residents and businesses in and around Ayr.

“I would like to thank the senior pupils of Dalmilling Primary School for joining us this week to unveil the fibre street cabinet and I am glad to see that it has been able to benefit the local community.”

BT is investing £126 million in the Digital Scotland rollout. Robert Thorburn, BT Scotland’s Fibre Broadband Director, added: “Thousands of people in South Ayrshire now have the opportunity to access their best ever broadband speeds when they sign up with a service provider. There’s lots of competition out there and people may find they could be surfing at much higher speeds at a similar cost to their current service.

“We’d like to thank Dalmilling Primary School for helping us to unveil the latest coverage – it’s great that local pupils were able to get an insight into how high-speed technology powers the internet and learn about a very positive side to a career in engineering.”

*These are the top wholesale speeds available from Openreach to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.

Notes to editors

Due to the current network topography and the economics of deployment, it is likely that not all premises within selected exchange areas will be able to access fibre-based broadband at the same point in the roll-out.

The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme aims to provide fibre broadband infrastructure to parts of Scotland not included in commercial providers’ investment plans. Combined with current commercial roll-out plans, the programme will deliver access to fibre broadband to around 95% of premises by the end of the current contract.

Funding partners include the Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, BT, the UK Government through Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), local authorities and the European Regional Development Fund. The total project value includes around £18 million which is being reinvested back in to the programme as a result of stronger than expected early take-up.

About BDUK

Superfast Britain is a UK Government programme of investment in broadband and communication infrastructure across the UK. Run by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, this investment helps businesses to grow, creates jobs and will make Britain more competitive in the global race. The portfolio is comprised of three elements:

BT’s purpose is to use the power of communications to make a better world. It is one of the world’s leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving customers in 180 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to its customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband, TV and internet products and services; and converged fixed-mobile products and services. BT consists of six customer-facing lines of business: Consumer, EE, Business and Public Sector, Global Services, Wholesale and Ventures, and Openreach.

For the year ended 31 March 2017, BT Group’s reported revenue was £24,062m with reported profit before taxation of £2,354m.

British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.